Many angry 50s women frustrated they can’t get a pension for up to six years – have the power at the ballot box to knock out the MPs who voted for the change. Since the next general election will be closely fought and many seats have narrow majorities they are literally – no pun intended -in poll position to effect change.

There isn’t a constituency in the United Kingdom that has less than 3000 of these pensioners according to a breakdown helpfully provided by the House of Commons library.

And it is the current Theresa May government and her DUP allies who are vigorously pursuing higher and higher retirement ages for future generations of pensioners that are the MPs most at risk. The Conservatives got a high proportion of votes from the over 60s at the last general election so need these votes to win the next election.

The biggest voter power of this group is in the Isle of Wight – where there are over 10,000 people affected by the raising of the pension age.The Tory MP, Bob Seely appears to have an impregnable 20,998 majority – but that would be halved if this group of people voted didn’t vote for him.. The main challenger there is Labour who came second and if people switched their vote to Labour it would become a highly marginal seat.

Much more vulnerable is home secretary and ironically women and equalities minister Amber Rudd, whose Hastings and Rye seat, has 7400 people affected. She has a majority of 366 and Labour is the main challenger. There are 20 times more people hit by the change than her majority.

Another ultra marginal is Calder Valley where the Conservative MP Craig Whittaker,a Treasury whip, has a majority of 609 over Labour. There are 7000 people affected by the change in his constituency.

Similarly Corby where Tom Pursglove has a Conservative majority of 2,690 – it is more than outnumbered by 7,300 people affected. Both Milton Keynes seats (North and South) have small 2000+ Tory majorities but over 14,000 people affected between them. And Scarborough where Conservative MP Robert Goodwill has a 3435 majority is dwarfed by 7,100 people affected.

The entire London borough of Barnet is another hotspot. Chipping Barnet, where Theresa Villiers, Conservative MP and ex minister, has a 353 majority has 6,200 people affected. Labour is again the main challenger. Next door Hendon which also has 6.200 people affected. Tory MP Matthew Offord has a majority of 1072 over Labour .In Finchley and Golders Green Tory Mike Freer has a majority of 1657 over Labour and there are 6000 people affected.

There are also a string of safe Tory seats with between 7,000 and 7,800 pensioners who have lost out where the Tory majority can be severely dented or turned into marginals by switching to the highest challenger. Among these are Beverley and Holderness ( Graham Stuart majority 14,042); Bridgewater and West Somerset ( Ian Liddell-Grainger majority 15,448); Croydon South ( Chris Philp majority 11,406); South Dorset ( Richard Drax majority 11,695), Wells (James Heappey, majority 7585 over liberal democrat) and Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk ( John Lamont, majority 11,060).

Among Labour seats with over 7,000 pensioners affected include marginal Colne Valley (Thelma Walker majority 915) and safe seats Croydon North and Brent North. The most marginal with over 7000 affected people is Rutherglen and Hamilton West held by Gerrard Killen with a majority of 265 over SNP.

DUP seats with the largest numbers of people affected ( 6500 and 6400 respectively) are Upper Bann held by David Simpson with a 7,992 majority and Antrim North held by Ian Paisley Jnr with a 11,546 majority.

None of the Welsh Parliamentary seats had more than 7000 pensioners.

In addition there are those with lower numbers of people affected but who could influence the result. One is East Worthing and Shoreham which has 6,100 people affected. The MP is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women pensioners group, Tim Loughton. He has a 5106 majority over Labour.

These results suggest that Waspi and BackTo60 supporters supporters have more influence than they realise. It is a question of energising it.

Check your own constituency in the table here.It is an Excel document. Go the page and scroll until the bottom and click on constituency estimates.

It is curious how State Pension Age increases are being painted as a tory creation.

The first party to increase State Pension Age above 65 was of course Labour with the 2007 Pensions Act, which affected more people than the 1995 and 2011 Acts combined, and increased SPA to 68 for millions of people.

It also seems odd to be fixating on a group of women who have had their SPA increased to 66, and seemingly ignoring those of either gender with a SPA of 67 or 68.

We do need to take a serious look at our State Pension, but this needs to include all cohorts, and not get bogged down in petty partisan politics.

Hi David,
Party politics aside I am afraid you are wrong on two counts. First of all it was John Major’s Conservative government that first passed the legislation in 1995 and coalition government in 2011 that are the main drivers of the pension age rise. The 2007 Act affected only a few hundred thousand compared to over three million by other legislation. Don’t believe it – look at the table in the link on this blog. It tells you all you want to know.

I did clearly state “increase State Pension Age above 65”. The 1995 Act equalised ages at 65, but did not increase beyond this.

The 2007 Pensions Act increased the State Pension Age of every man and woman born after 6th April 1959, which is obviously tens of millions of people.

It affected a few hundred thousand 1950s women, but that underscores the point – State Pension Age increases affect the majority of people in the country, so the exclusive focus on 1950s women does not make sense.

Hi David,
Did you read David Lang’s comment carefully. He didn’t mention the first legislation to raise the state pension age which of course was John Major’s government in 1995. What he actually said was that Labour were the first party to raise the state pension age ABOVE 65 with the 2007 Pension Act and that is quite correct.

As to your figures of only a few thousand you might want to look again. The 2007 Act originally saw the increase from 65 to 67, 67 and 68 for everyone born from April 1959 onwards. This means everyone ( man, woman and child) born from the 60s till the present day – ie over 5 decades. We obviously have the Pensions Act of 2011 and 2014 that has brought forward part of those changes but I’m sure you will agree that the numbers affected in the 2007 Act are far greater than the 3.8m women and 2.5m men affected by the 1995 and 2011 Acts together.

You seem to be a little fixated on one small cohort of 50s’ women and ignoring all the men and women born from 1960 onwards whose state pension age, as David Lang has correctly pointed out, will be greater.

The 2011 Act was unfair, but we still need to look at all the Pension Acts that increased State Pension Age – 1995, 2007, 2011 and 2014.

They all affected different people in different ways, and all major parties have been involved. All parties are therefore “in favour” of state pension age increases, and there are only minor differences in how they choose to go about it.

David, after 40 + years of working, to be told your pension will not be paid, for 6-7 years after you were due to get it, is despicable, our pension is not a hand out, /benefit it is our right, we paid into the N.I. WASPI, are in the right the govt have stolen our pension, and we want it back . Can you afford to lose £45.000 I think not, then how do you think the WASPI women feel. Trying putting yourself in our shoes.

I went to see my local MP Johnnie mercer looking for support with the WASPI campaign and was asked ‘ what do you want me to do, ask all over 80 ‘s to drop dead and stop drawing their pension?’ I refused to vote conservative but he still got back in with a higher majority.

As a Waspi woman affected by Bedroom Tax for the second time after downsizing once and having to pay it from my disablity benefits. I am 64 this year and have to wait another year and a half for my pension which would exempt me from Bedroom Tax and give me access to Heating allowance etc. If I did downsize I would move onto Universal Credit too!
I am very angry and fed up to the point where I have been having therapy for stress and depression besides treatment for my disabilities.

Looks like i will be voting labour as im having to carry on working the 6 years more to receive pension ive been robbed of! How it can be allowed is beyond me.It is theft as it belongs to all of us 50’s women who have contributed the full amount to retire at 60!

I am a life long Tory supporter but this cruel vicious party and I are parting company once and for all. It horrendously bad what is happening to hard working 50’s women. Have the conservatives really turned on working people at the end of their working lives and tossed them away like old shoes to sit alone cold and hungry waiting for the grim reaper to take them. Cameron said they would ensure work paid it obviously doesn’t. Next thing you know they will be following ancient Eskimo ethos and sailing old women out to sea and dumping them on the ice tofreeze to death so they don’t have to be fed and be sheltered. I am really really angry about all this but hey ho why should I be I am not struggling for a roof over my head or money. Well I am bothered because it is state persecution nothing less of the weakest and disadvantaged

I couldn’t have put it better myself! I too have been a lifelong tory supporter but IT IS OVER! I shall never ever vote for them again. They are completely heartless and their policies are turning people against each other with the ever increasing divide between the haves and have-nots. My biggest regret is ever believing in them!

I’ve been told by DWP that I have to wait for my late husbands state pension till I retire at 68, I need this now. WI’ll I even get it? I’m looking for work and have been for 4 years since giving up my job to become a carer to my husband. The downturn in the oil industry with so many redundancies is making in near impossible due to over 200 people applying for each office vacancy. I certainly don’t want to still be doing this for the next 12 years which the government says I must, till I retire 😠😠😠 Who’s responsible for the state pension deficit? Absolutely nothing to do with people living longer! The Tory’s want everyone paying into private pensions just like they want the NHS privatised 😠

Can I throw and option in pot that you may not have considered, but it will only work if you do not have a degree.After recovering from cancer in my early 50’s I could not get a job anywhere. The DWP were harassing me and saying I had to go and work in a charity shop to give me work experience. If you saw my CV you would laugh. I found out that there is no upper age limit to student finance, applied and am in my final year of my degree. Not only do you get a student loan of around £8000 (its higher than when I started , check. You don’t have to pay council tax as a student. I will be 58 when I finish and the situation re employment may be the same, but I have been doing alot of networking whilst at Uni and something may come of that.

Same here Amanda
My lovely hubby had a stroke this time last year,self employed, never been sick or claimed a penny in the past ,I’ve worked nearly all my life apart from looking after the children for a few years that’s only work break I’ve had,what a difference a year makes,one thing I must say than God he is on the mend ,what little bit of sick pay he received as stopped because THEY say he’s fit to work…painting and decorating is his profession …he can only do very light work now ,if I had my pension he wouldn’t have to do that as it would help us cope better financially…. Its so not fair for all of us having to wait another 6/7 years

One of the biggest mistakes is to consider that everyone has the same level of health chronology. Of course this is not the case, and in mine my health deteriorated rapidly. . Before 60 I rarely seen a doctor and never been in hospital, then after 60 a triple bypass, and two more operations and regular visits to the doctors, outpatients, and Accident & Emergency. Then I needed crutches for walking. So within 2 years I had gone from being a fit and active person to one whose health varies by the day. There is a need to look at pensions not just from an age perspective but also a fitness perspective. Otherwise all you are doing is increasing the time people spend on other benefits.

The complete frustration of this current goverment hanging by a thread would never have happened if they had listened and righted this gross injustice to 3.5 million women but their pure arrogance cost them a very small majority getting into bed with the DUP.
3.5 million votes were thrown away by not listening to the generation of women who in 1995 were considered not even worth a postage stamp. Shame on you all . I for one a life long Tory voted for my local Labour MP who fully supports the WASPI Campaign.

Women have been disadvantaged for years no equal pay,child care or even allowed to join work place pensions if you worked part time. Lot’s of the 19 50’s women worked looked after children and ageing relatives. It’s totally unfair BEWARE THE NONE PENSIONER VOTE I know where mine is going !

I have just looked at my national insurance contributions and I have 45 full years , I’m 62 next and why if having over the stated amount ,35years in order to receive state pension do I gave to work beyond ???? I will gave 49 years by the time I retire ….it’s disgusting !!but furthermore I’ve paid my dues…

Hello David, my wife was born on April 2nd 1960, and has a retirement age of 66 according to the DWP website ; am I right in thinking that, if successful, the current ‘Back to 60’ campaign will not benefit her? Thanks

Helen’s State pension has been equalised with men born on the same day.I can see no reason now why women’s NI contributions/credits should entitle them to an earlier and on average longer state pension than that equivalent man,

I don’t care who did it but I am angry especially as I was not allowed to join the works pension because I did not work enough hours when my children were small. My wages went to pay the mortgage when rates were at their height in the 80’s..My husband was badly advised by his employer about opting out of NI contributions and now with interest rates at an all time low we are capital heavy and income light, We are dipping into our capital to live and it will not last forever. The plan was for us to retire together 18 months ago and successive governments have stolen this from us!

What difference was there in the information given to 1950s women compared to everyone else? Aside from the 2011 Act, the other 3 Acts (1995, 2007 and 2014) gave similar amounts of notice, and had no personal notification.

I’m one of the many who didn’t find out about having to wait till I’m 66 until I was 59. And yes I too will have been robbed of £45K. I wonder how many of us will even make it to 66, or is that what the government are hoping for ?

Good luck. I have just come through occurrence of breast cancer. If that is your diagnosis and MacMillan are a great help. The first time I had a long recovery from surgery and had two children at home. they helped with the heating bills. Sorry if I am butting in but worth knowing.

As WASPI points out, the only way to take an issue to government is to focus in on a specific group and set of circumstances. There is no debate about the fact that others are affected by the changes in legislation, but trying to encompass all the different groups and circumstances just waters down the campaign. Also, whichever party is currently in power is the one that will take the heat – regardless of who was responsible for passing the legislation. The point being that the present government need to take notice of the electorate.

It is upto WASPI as to whether they want to run an inclusive campaign or a divisive one. Choosing the latter though brings its own issues, such as alienating people outside of that group, and pursuing unrealistic aims that will not stack up legally or politically.

There’s little point vilifying the incumbent party unless the opposition parties offer a viable alternative, which none of them have done to date.

I’ve always been a Tory voter. Not anymore, unless they agree to the #BackTo60.com pension being returned to 1950s women. Future generations need to stand with us and stand firm. Or it will be them next. I know where I will be casting my next vote and it won’t be Tory. You’ve got to vote dirty these days and I consider anything to do with politics to be extremely dirty.

Not at moment but policy over Waspi is up for grabs. From what I gather a proposal for a limited compensation by Debbie Abrahams is not official Labour policy. Sour it is up to you to both pressurise your Labour MP or press the activists in the Labour Party to get a change.

As a lobby journalist working in wesyminster I know the Labour Party are reconsidering it. The 2017 election manifesto was for the 2017 election. Labour did not win it. So there will be a new manifesto for the next election

Thank you for your reply David.Hopefully they will come up with a policy that addresses the very real issues concerning extended working for people in their 60s,including the almost ignored reality of age discrimination in the employment market.At the risk of repeating myself,they would be well advised to ensure any policy advocated does not fall foul of the 2010 equalities Act,which of course they can check with their lawyers.

I am 62 years of age and work in primary school. It’s a very demanding job both physically and mentally and lately I am really feeling the strain of it all plus the fact that I seem to be picking up any illness that comes into school. I have worked for 47 years and really don’t know how I will continue with my role for another 4 years. Children deserve young, enthusiastic, energetic educators. I sympathise with everyone affected by these ridiculous changes but with all due respect when a 42 year old teacher says to me, how the hell do you think I feel, I’ve got to work until I’m 70, my response is.. I’ve worked more years than you’ve lived. The pension age should be 60 for everyone and that includes the MPs who interfered with pension age. Make room for young, new blood…. Give the jobs to the youngsters and let us have our last few years enjoying life .

I think the main point to make to get people on side is that they are aware of their pension age and have a chance to plan for it. That’s what usually swings the discussion when I have this debate with someone.

The Government says there are more older women in employment now, of course there is! We are forced to work because we have to make up 6yrs without pension. It is hard for those that are on their own, we have to pay our own way without the support of a partner. My husband died and before he was even buried I was told that as his spouse I was responsible for any income tax that he might owe, it didn’t matter that they had pocketed at least 15yrs worth of state pension that they did not have to pay out to him!

I then had to try and find full time work (as I was part time) but it is impossible to get full time
at our age! My friend who was made redundant a few years ago and divorced is also in the same
situation.

I cannot get the new full pension, I was told years ago that I had the 30yrs needed for the basic pension and if I paid more it might not be to my advantage so I thought it was OK. I had not realised that it had been increased to 35yrs. I got a pension forecast and found out that I had 38 qualifying yrs contributions but I still didn’t qualify for the new pension, I rang up and was then told that I had to have 43 years to qualify! When they said that everyone who retires after 2016 will get the New Pension I thought that would make up for some of the 6yrs we have to wait, but
then to find out that you don’t qualify is a slap in the face!
I hope that Mrs. May and her pals get their comeuppance for the way we have been treated!
To them we are nothing more than something unwanted stuck on the bottom of their shoe!